IGN, Game Informer express, retract support for Palestinian civilians

On Friday, a number of games industry media outlets posted stories informing their readers about how they can donate to charities to help Palestinians hurt by recent bombardment by Israel. By Monday morning, two of the largest such publications had taken their stories down.

IGN was the first such publication to post its collection of charity links, with a brief note beforehand stating, "Palestinian civilians are currently suffering in great numbers in Jerusalem, Gaza, and West Bank, due to the active Israel-Palestine conflict." The story also featured a graphic of a Palestinian flag next to the IGN logo.

The story was pulled over the weekend, with IGN releasing a statement about the removal early Monday morning.

"We have a track record of supporting humanitarian efforts and charities across the globe. In the instance of our recent post regarding how to help civilians in the Israel-Palestinian Conflict, our philanthropic instincts to help those in need was not in-line with our intent of trying to show support for all people impacted by tragic events.

"By highlighting only one population, the post mistakenly left the impression that we were politically aligned with one side. That was not our intention and we sincerely regret the error."

GamesIndustry.biz understands the decision to pull the IGN article was not made by editorial staff.

GameStop-owned Game Informer posted its own story on Saturday, with charity links prefaced by a statement about the crisis, saying, "As violence escalates throughout the region with the Israeli Army raising the threat of war, Palestinian civilians are suffering. Numerous lives have been lost, people are injured, and families are being evicted from their homes in Gaza, Jerusalem, and surrounding areas."

As of this writing, it too has been removed, with the URL returning a 404 error. A GameStop representative did not immediately return a GamesIndustry.biz request for comment.

Not everyone has backed off their original statements of support. GameSpot posted its own story Saturday morning and it remains up as of this writing. Likewise, Kotaku's Saturday article remains up, despite having the most pointed assessment of the situation, calling Gaza "an open-air prison subject to apartheid conditions imposed by the fascist Israeli government."

In light of the stories' removal, GamesIndustry.biz invites our readers to donate to the charities IGN and GameInformer were trying to support.

IGN's story sought to raise money for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, Anera, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Medical Aid for Palestinians, and Doctors Without Borders.

GameInformer's article was encouraging donations to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, a Just Giving fundraiser, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Doctors Without Borders, and Friends of Al-Aqsa.